1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a coupling structure between a shift lever and a transmission knob for a vehicle; and, more particularly, to a coupling structure between a shift lever and a knob for a vehicle capable of being easily coupled in a one-touch manner during assembly work.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a speed change in a vehicle mounted with a transmission is completed when a driver selects a shift lever placed at one side of a driver seat to a neutral position between first and second gears, between third and fourth gears, or between fifth and reverse gears by moving the shift lever in a width direction of the vehicle, and then shifts the shift lever in a forward and backward direction of the vehicle again to change speed, a selecting cable and a shifting cable, which are connected to a lower end of the shift lever, operate a shift control mechanism arranged within the transmission when interlocked with each other.
The shift lever is coupled, at an upper end thereof, with a shift knob which is shaped to be easily grasped by a driver. In the prior art, the shift knob and the shift lever are mutually coupled in a screwing manner by forming a male threaded portion on the upper end of the shift lever and forming a female threaded portion corresponding to the male threaded portion on an inner diameter portion of the shift knob.
In addition, the male threaded portion of the shift lever is formed, at a lower side thereof, with an inclined surface that has a particular taper angle, and the female threaded portion of the shift knob is formed, at a lower side thereof, with an inclined surface having a particular taper angle. Accordingly, a substantially strong fastening force by the taper angle exists when fastening the shift lever and the shift knob.
However, in the above-mentioned screwing manner, since each of the male threaded portion and the female threaded portion usually has 12 and 13 pitches, the knob must be turned at least 12 times to couple the knob to the shift lever.
Meanwhile, a method of forcedly pressing and fastening a pre-assembled knob to a shift lever has been developed using an elastic clip and also a method of fastening a knob to a shift lever and then fixing them using snap ring, in addition to the above-mentioned screwing manner.
However, even in a case of applying the above-mentioned improved method, there are problems in that workability is deteriorated since an excessive press force is required to fasten the knob to the shift lever, and damage of the knob may occur due to use of a tool such as a rubber hammer to minimize a fatigue degree of a worker.